The Fundamentals of Drawing in Colour

This ebook licensed to H D. Unauthorized reproduction or distribution of this ebook is illegal.

21BD1AF1-BA62-4ACF-868F-588A423B525B

A complete professional course for artists Barrington Barber 21BD1AF1-BA62-4ACF-868F-588A423B525B

This edition published in 2006 by Arcturus Publishing Limited 26/27 Bickels Yard, 151–153 Bermondsey Street, London SE1 3HA Copyright © 2006 Arcturus Publishing Limited All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without written permission in accordance with the provisions of the Copyright Act 1956 (as amended). Any person or persons who do any unauthorised act in relation to this publication may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages. ISBN-13: 978-1-84193-448-8 ISBN-10: 1-84193-448-8 Printed in China 21BD1AF1-BA62-4ACF-868F-588A423B525B

Contents Introduction ................................................................ 6 Getting started .......................................................... 8 Drawing still life in colour .................................... 56 Landscape .................................................................. 78 Animals ........................................................................ 98 The human figure .................................................... 114 Portraits ...................................................................... 144 Drapery ........................................................................ 166 Composition and colour ........................................ 178 Significant colours .................................................. 194 Index ............................................................................ 208 21BD1AF1-BA62-4ACF-868F-588A423B525B

Introduction 6 ‘Drawing in colour’ is a slightly unusual title, because the obvious comment is, ‘How does that differ from painting?’ Well, in this book I examine no fewer than four methods of drawing in various colour mediums, only one of which is connected with painting. I will be showing examples – and how to go about them – of drawing in coloured pencil, pastel or crayon, coloured inks and watercolour painting, which can be heavily conditioned by drawing. It is very easy to get confused by the many techniques of introducing colour into the already complex area of drawing in tone, line and texture. I believe the solution is to approach it as though learning to draw afresh. Understanding colour is quite a complex affair, and the book begins by assuming that readers will benefit from an introduction to the basics of colour theory. This need not delay you, however, because even if it is not wholly grasped at once, the simple practice of applying colour in your drawings will provide you with valuable experience, leading you to work out tonal values to your own satisfaction. And please don’t believe that there is only one correct way; try out every variation that occurs to you while working, and you may discover yet more interesting ways of manipulating colour schemes. I have set as many exercises in the use of colour as seemed practical, and have tried to include all the really essential methods. You will find it useful to look at the work of other artists, both living and dead, and to observe how they worked out the chromatic schemes in their own pictures. Some are exponents of very subtle and restrained values, while others are far more vibrant or strident in the way they use their pigments. The key always seems to come down to two things: first, harmony; and second, contrast. Of course, all artists have used both at some time in their careers, but they often have a tendency to favour one or the other. In this book I have tried to show the effects of both approaches. The addition of colour to your drawing can increase the enjoyment both to yourself in creating it and, afterwards, to your viewers. The power of colour to enhance a subject is most evident when you compare a black and white reproduction of a painting with the same picture in colour. Not only that, the natural symbolism of colour, or at least the type of symbolism that we attach to the colour of an object, brings further meaning to the subject matter. 21BD1AF1-BA62-4ACF-868F-588A423B525B

7 The different mediums that you experiment with should add further to your enjoyment. Don’t worry if, at first, you might make rather a mess of the exercises; no one ever became any good at art without making lots of mistakes to start with. As long as you consider carefully everything you’ve done, no matter how unsatisfactory or disappointing it might be, you will soon learn not to repeat your mistakes too many times. Experimentation is the way that art evolves; it is not just the preserve of scientists. So, prepare to have a good – if occasionally difficult – time with the exercises in this book; with my heartfelt good wishes on the expansion of your artistic ability. Barrington Barber, 2006 21BD1AF1-BA62-4ACF-868F-588A423B525B

Getting started 8 To start drawing in colour is to take a step into the area of painting, although in this volume we will mainly be looking at colour as an adjunct to drawing. There are various methods and media to explore, beginning with the materials and how to get used to them through a series of exercises. We will be concerned mostly with drawing in coloured pencil, pastels, coloured inks and watercolour. So we start with a list of the materials that will be useful to your work. You may not want to use them all but it is a good idea to try them out, if only in a limited way. Then your choice of which medium to use will be based on knowledge and experience rather than mere guesswork. This is a much more practical way of ensuring that you have some control over your medium. Go through all the exercises shown here because they will familiarize you with a range of mediums and also provide you with practice, which every artist needs. You may even find you can invent a few exercises of your own, which is a sign that you are engaging with the medium in depth. It is also more fun for you when you play around with different mediums. Most of the exercises are simple enough but don’t be misled into thinking that therefore they are not worth trying out. In fact, simple repetition of straightforward technical practices is the bedrock of all artistic expertise. When you see a young artist doodling with patterns and repetitive marks on a sheet of paper, he or she is in the process of learning the manual dexterity that is so important for any artist. Drawing is always drawing, whether in colour or not. So do not be put off if you know nothing or little about it. The way to learn is by experimentation and experiencing both success and failure. When you are drawing easily without any problems, it is only because previously you have overcome difficulties of some sort. And remember, when you appear to be having difficulties, that is when you are learning most. It will become easier if you persevere. 21BD1AF1-BA62-4ACF-868F-588A423B525B

21BD1AF1-BA62-4ACF-868F-588A423B525B 9

Materials and mediums 10 Here is a selection of the materials required for drawing in colour. I have chosen those most easily obtained from art or GETTING STARTED stationery shops. As an artist you will always want to use the best, but occasionally less specialized materials can be just as good. 1. Coloured pencils – don’t concern yourself 4. Soft pastel 1. Coloured pencil too much with the brand, although some are 9. Watercolour box 2. Fineline graphic pen better than others. Go for as many variations in colour as you can find. Thinner pencils can 3. Sable brush be of superior quality but not always. Try 5. Hard pastel them out and make your own judgement. Watercolour crayons are similar to ordinary 6. Stump coloured pencils but you can use a brush 7. Scalpel with water to spread their colour over larger 8. Felt tip pen areas. There are several brands available. 8b. Felt tip illuminator 2. Fineline graphic pens – these pens are good for drawing and behave similarly to a coloured pencil but with a more intense colour value. 3. Brushes – the best are sable but there are many varieties of hair and synthetic fibre. You will only need two or three brushes, especially if they come to a fine point. A size 0, one 3 and perhaps one 7 or 8 would be sufficient. For extending pastels you might need a hog hair or some other stiff brush. 4. Soft pastels – these tend to be expensive. They come in a wide range of colours but get used up quickly. However, for some work they can be essential. 5. Hard pastels – also known as conté crayons, these are essentially the same material as the soft ones but bound together in a compressed form. Hard pastels are square in section whereas the soft ones are round. The range of colours is again enormous, they last longer and are easier to manipulate. 6. Stumps – these are just rolls of paper in a compressed form, pointed at both ends and very useful for extending the tones of your pastels. They come in several sizes, but 21BD1AF1-BA62-4ACF-868F-588A423B525B

usually you will only want two, a large fat one 12. Indian ink – a more permanent ink, 11 and a thin one. available in many colours. Perfect for pen work but can be used with a brush. MATERIALS AND MEDIUMS 7. Scalpel – the best knife for sharpening pencils, crayons, pastels or anything, but they Paper: are extremely sharp and not advisable for students under 16 years. A craft knife is almost Watercolour paper – ideal for anything where as good and safer to use. water is the main solution. It takes the colour well and helps to stop it going patchy. 8. Felt tip pens and illuminators – these pens allow thicker, more solid areas of colour to be put Ingres paper – very good for pastel drawing, and on quickly and are useful for larger drawings. it comes in many shades. You will find it easier to draw in pastel on toned paper because white 9. Watercolour box – watercolours are easiest to paper gives a rather too stark contrast. use from a box but they can be bought in small tubes as well. Cartridge paper – this comes in various weights (gsm = grams per square metre), so you will 10. Fine nib push or dip pens – these provide have to try different types to suit your piece of variable line and pen strokes, from very fine to work. Generally speaking, a smooth surface is fairly thick depending on the pressure applied. better for pen and ink and rough is better for Some nibs are more flexible than others. pencil work. 11. Liquid water colour (concentrated) – these colours are just like ink but may be diluted with water. They can be used with a pen or a brush. 10. Fine nib push or dip pens 12. Indian ink 11. Concentrated liquid water colour 21BD1AF1-BA62-4ACF-868F-588A423B525B

Holding the tools 12 GETTING STARTED Holding your pen, brush, chalk or pencil doesn’t always have to be 1. the same as you would hold a fountain pen. Sometimes you get better, freer results by holding them as you would hold a stick or a house-painting brush. The only one that you will have to hold the same way as a fountain pen is the dip pen with ink because it is very difficult to manipulate any other way. We show here the variety of ways of holding these implements. You may need to practise these different ways to become good at them. 2. 3. 4. 21BD1AF1-BA62-4ACF-868F-588A423B525B

5. 6. 13 HOLDING THE TOOLS 7. 1. Hold the pastel loosely 2. Fineline pen held conventionally but with your little finger supporting it 3. Large sable brush held like a wand 4. Small brush held like a pen 5 and 6. Pencil can be held either like a wand or more conventionally 7. Push or dip pen held normally MASTERSTROKES A pen line doesn’t have to be firm and precise anymore than a pencil line or a pastel stroke has to be: a rather wobbly and meandering pen line often looks more convincing than a smooth, hard-edged line. The main thing in holding an implement for drawing is not to grip it too tightly. Your grip should be as light as is possible without losing control of the tool. 21BD1AF1-BA62-4ACF-868F-588A423B525B

Drawing positions 14 In order to draw well, make sure that you are comfortably positioned – try different positions to find the one most suited to you. It is nearly GETTING STARTED always best to have your drawing supported on a sloping board. This is particularly useful when using watercolours because it allows the water to run down the paper and makes it easier to control the intensity of your colour. But a sloping surface is just as useful when using chalk, pastel, pencil or pen. For most drawing, except with pen and ink, I prefer to stand up using an easel, but sometimes it is not convenient nor does it always give the best results. When working with pen and ink, you should keep your paper surface less upright, otherwise the ink does not flow properly to the nib, and the same is true to a certain extent with brushwork in watercolour. But having the paper absolutely flat is not a good idea because you tend to view it too much from one angle, which can give rise to distortion. 1. Standing at an easel 2. Sitting down with the board supported by the back of another chair 21BD1AF1-BA62-4ACF-868F-588A423B525B

3. Drawing with pastels on a board DRAWING POSITIONS propped up on a table 15 4. Standing up with a sketchpad 5. Probably the best position for drawing in pen and ink 21BD1AF1-BA62-4ACF-868F-588A423B525B

The colour wheel Colour control 16 This simple device is very useful for demonstrating the relationships between the different colours of GETTING STARTED the spectrum and holds true for any of the mediums that you will be using. The diagram shows an inner circle of colour containing the three primaries, red, yellow and blue. ‘Primary’ means you cannot break them down into any components. They are the three basic colours from which all others are made. In the outer circle we have a number of secondary colours which combine two of the primary colours, and also the gradations of the spectrum in between. Starting at the top and moving in a clockwise direction the colours are: green, blue-green (turquoise), the primary blue, violet, purple, crimson, the primary red, vermilion, orange, deep yellow, the primary yellow, yellow-green, and then back to the first colour, green. Note that the results of mixing each of the secondary colours (two primaries mixed) yield strong red and weak blue in crimson; strong blue and weak red in violet; strong blue and weak yellow in turquoise; strong yellow and weak blue in yellow-green; strong yellow and weak red in deep yellow and strong red and weak yellow in vermilion. Now have a look at the colours on the wheel that are opposite one another. They ‘complement’ each other as they render the greatest contrast between themselves and, as a result,have the most impact when placed next to each other in, for example, a picture. Tertiary colours are mixtures of all three primaries, which make darker, subtler or more neutral colours, such as brown, beige, grey and variations on green and purple. 21BD1AF1-BA62-4ACF-868F-588A423B525B

21BD1AF1-BA62-4ACF-868F-588A423B525B THE COLOUR WHEEL 17

Coloured pencil 18 Coloured pencils are one form of colour that almost everybody has had some experience of using, from quite an early age. You GETTING STARTED will need a good range of colours, and different brands produce slightly different ranges, so sometimes a mixture of brands can be to your advantage. Make sure all your pencils are well sharpened before you start, because you get a better texture for the colour intensity if you do. Have several of each colour ready so that you can just change pencils when one gets too blunt. This saves time. 1 To start with, give yourself an idea of the pared with paints or pastels. This means that relative colour power of the different pen- when you are drawing pictures in this medium you will be producing a rather soft and gentle cils by making a chart, drawing a patch of colour impact. The best results will be from colour, as shown, as strongly as you can without careful and delicate drawing. breaking the lead. As you will see, there is a limi- tation on the intensity of these colours com- Having made your chart, next try drawing with strokes as close together as you can in order to fairly gentle strokes all in one direction, like produce a uniform effect. shading with an ordinary pencil. Keep the 21BD1AF1-BA62-4ACF-868F-588A423B525B

2 Then make a series of 3 Now try different ways short marks in various of covering a surface, as directions, producing an overall shown; first a wandering line texture that looks a bit like wood. which doubles back on itself to I’ve used brown here. produce a sort of scribble area. I’ve used green, but try several colours yourself. 19 4 The next series of marks 5 Lastly, try the exercise of COLOURED PENCIL are almost dots and you can taking closely marked decide whether you prefer a straight lines alongside and across scattering of dots or very short each other to build up a rather marks. Cover the area as uniformly denser texture. as you can. 6 Now you can attempt overlaying one colour with another. To keep it simple, I have just done strokes all in one direction for the first colour and in a contrary direction for the second. My combinations are yellow-green then green, green then brown, yellow then red, and yellow then blue. But any combination is worth trying, so do experiment. Yellow-green then Green then brown Yellow then red Yellow then blue green 7 Finally, practise controlling your pencil by starting with a hard stroke that softens off. Then select another colour; its complementary contrast (the pairs of colours that lie opposite each other on the colour wheel – see page 16) would be best. Start off gently with this one before making the stroke, and colour, stronger towards the end. 21BD1AF1-BA62-4ACF-868F-588A423B525B

Pencil work in greater detail 20 These sketches show different ways of producing texture with coloured pencils and give some idea of both their possibilities GETTING STARTED and limitations. Because pencils are easy to control, they are frequent favourites among beginners. Later on, of course, one realizes that the control doesn’t come from mental determination but purely from constant practice. Then you can let go of all the controls and allow the eye to direct the hand without effort. 1 First of all, just a simple patch of colour where the pencils have been scribbled in all directions to produce a texture. The three colours used were brown, then pink and then ultramarine blue. The blue was put on more heavily than the other two. This produces a smoky texture, which can be built up quite easily. 2 Now we take two areas of colour, a dark background behind a lighter piece of cloth. The cloth is drawn with loose strokes in red, yellow and a touch of blue. There is no attempt to build up a strong colour. For the background, a closely shaded dark blue was first applied, followed by brown and red, and then even heavier strokes of violet. The build-up here is stronger, to create a dark space. 3 Next, we have two parts of a drawing by Mary Cassatt, the American Impressionist. The first part is a leg-of-mutton sleeve of the period, drawn with rapid light strokes of the pencil. The sleeve itself is in green, yellow ochre, brown, blue and violet, in that order. Some areas are more closely covered, others less so, to give change of tone. The background is a heavily drawn-on texture of red and yellow, with some violet in the shadows. Having worked up the colours to the desired intensity, they are given added strength by the black outlining of the sleeve shape and deepening of the shadows in the space behind. 21BD1AF1-BA62-4ACF-868F-588A423B525B

The second Mary Cassatt drawing is of a small 21 child held in its mother’s arms. First, a light layer of yellow ochre was smoothed on, then PENCIL WORK IN GREATER DETAIL pinker areas around the thigh, stomach, chest and shoulder. When that is done, areas of light and dark blue help to bring out the shaded parts, with a little added green. The background areas are on one side dark blue and violet, and on the other side greenish-yellow. To finish, once again a black pencil has been used to define the rounded edges of the figure. 4 An example based on a Picasso drawing of 1923. Here the two tones of pink and blue help to provide the dimensional aspects of the head, while the yellow ochre and a brown give shadowy areas on both head and hair. Again, a few black lines sharpen up the image. 5 The Toulouse-Lautrec figure in the fur-trimmed evening coat is done with far less texture, keeping everything very spare and lightly drawn. This creates a sort of delicacy which is quite elegant. Coloured pencils are best used where you would rather create soft or delicate images. MASTERSTROKES One way of making a distinction between the different effects of light falling on both sides of the face or figure is to make one side of the face a warm, bright colour – a pink or light yellow; and the other side, a cool blue or green colour. This effect of warm and cool colours on the edge of a form helps to create an effect of roundness. 21BD1AF1-BA62-4ACF-868F-588A423B525B

Coloured ink 22 Fineline fibre-tipped pens in a range of colours represent coloured ink in its simplest commercial form. You can buy them GETTING STARTED separately or in packs of a complete colour range. The other option is to use a fine dip pen and nib and bottles of either coloured Indian ink or concentrated liquid watercolours that also come in bottles. These work just as well as fibre tips and last much longer. 1 The first task is to test their effect by scribbling a patch of colour with each individual pen. Lay them alongside each other to see how they contrast or harmonize. With this type of ink, the colours are usually quite sharp and strong so that the only problem is how to soften them and combine them. 21BD1AF1-BA62-4ACF-868F-588A423B525B

2 One way of pulling two colours together colour is a lot stronger or darker than the other is by making very small marks of colour you may have to fade it out more quickly. In my examples, I’ve done from yellow to red and starting heavily on the left and gradually from red to green. Note that the yellow-green dispersing them more widely as you move to the was helped a bit towards its stronger end by right. Then do the same thing with another another deeper green. colour from the right towards the left. If one 23 3 Next, try overlaying strokes of two different colours with COLOURED INK the strokes of one colour opposed by strokes of another at almost right angles over the top. I show blue over green, blue over pink, brown over grey and brown over red. 4 In order to get a gentler variety of tone in your colour, do the outlines in ink lines and then use another medium to produce areas of tone within the outlined shapes. I have used coloured pencils inside the square outline of ink. This can work quite well. 5 Lastly, I show a set of marks made by thicker felt-tipped markers which, as you can see, will strengthen any colours where you feel you need a more powerful emphasis. 21BD1AF1-BA62-4ACF-868F-588A423B525B

Pen and ink in greater detail 24 The problem with drawing in colour in pen and ink is rather similar to the situation with coloured pencils. Large areas take so many GETTING STARTED strokes of the nib to fill them that inevitably there is a large amount of white paper left showing through, and this tends to produce more of a tint than a solid colour. Other problems are building up tones sufficiently densely to hold the form and taking care that marks aren’t so strong they dominate. Pen and ink drawings are never quick to produce although this does have the advantage of allowing you to be more careful in building up your picture. Some people love the medium while others try it only once. See how you get on. In these two drawings – one in pencil and the other in paint – I have used David Hockney as my inspiration. Here, the multitude of overlaid reddish tones give some idea of the man’s strong rubicund complexion. The hair and the shirt are not too difficult, although the shirt in the original is much stronger in colour. Hundreds of pen strokes are needed to build the colour, so you will need patience. You will also need a fair amount of confidence, because it is impossible to remove the pen strokes once they have been made. The face of the girl was harder to get right tonally because the pink complexion of the original was quite delicate. This version looks both stronger and deeper in tone. The small broken strokes are better for reproducing a less intense colour but even then, as you can see, it remains quite strong. 21BD1AF1-BA62-4ACF-868F-588A423B525B

In this study of Florence, based 25 on a work by Oskar Kokoschka, the tones and colours are built up PEN AND INK IN GREATER DETAIL by a mixture of small and large strokes, many of them packed quite closely to give an effect of solid roofs and walls. You will have to overlay your marks several times in order to get the tonal qualities you need, and each time you do that, try to vary the direction of your strokes. Based on an impasto brush painting by Frank Auerbach, of Mornington Crescent in London, this example will test your patience. The less solid medium of pen and ink will force you to build up the areas more gradually. This is where your talent in mixing colours becomes important, because each layer of pen strokes changes the colour of the area being drawn. You will have to decide how many layers of marks you give each area. I made the sky with one layer, which helps the buildings to look more dense and solid. 21BD1AF1-BA62-4ACF-868F-588A423B525B

Coloured pastels and chalk 26 The most expressive way of drawing in colour, as opposed to painting, is by using artists’ pastels or chalk, which are made of GETTING STARTED the same pigments as paints, but held in the form of a stick. Most artists will use both the hard and the soft variety of pastel, depending on the effects they are after, but if you are an absolute beginner at this medium, the hard pastels are easier to start with. They are often also called conté crayons. 1 When using pastels or conté crayons, work on tinted stock such as Ingres paper, testing your colours by selecting a creamy-beige toned paper and a darker brown- grey. On the lighter paper, first make a sort of chart with one stroke of each colour using the thickness of the pastel. This will give you some idea of the density of tone and brightness of colour for each crayon. 2 Now make a patch of colour, scribbling chalk back and forth over a small area. Then with your finger or thumb, smudge about half of it along the bottom section to see what happens when the colour is worked over. You will not need to treat every colour like this, but do enough to give you an idea of how it looks. 3 Next, make an overall scribble of tone starting lightly and getting heavier and heavier – without crushing the crayon – but getting the most solid colour value from each one. This will show how the colour can be varied in intensity. 21BD1AF1-BA62-4ACF-868F-588A423B525B

4 Now have a go at doing the same thing also applies to the smudging exercise. Smudging on the darker of the two papers. Note the colours allows you to produce a larger mass of smoother colour if you require it. Most how different colours stand out in different artists tend to use a mid- to dark tone for ways. A red that looks quite dark and strong on working in this medium, but some eighteenth- the beige paper, looks vibrant and glowing on century artists working on whitish paper the dark brown. Notice how the dark tones look produced pictures that looked, from a distance, heavier on the light paper and more subdued like oil paintings. on the dark paper. See how the tonal variation 27 COLOURED PASTELS AND CHALK This is a medium favoured by professional artists values, especially when the pastel is overlaid because it is like dry painting: easier to transport thickly, one colour over another. Instead, they and with much the same possibilities as shake off the excess pastel by tapping it gently, watercolours or oil paint. However, you will have and keep putting on and tapping off until they to invest in a good spray-on fixative to hold get the result that they desire. Nevertheless, to loose particles of chalk and prevent your picture keep it safe, the work will have to be overlaid fading away. Some artists don’t like fixing their with a sheet of acid-free tissue paper or put work because it sometimes affects the colour immediately under framed glass. 21BD1AF1-BA62-4ACF-868F-588A423B525B

Pastels in greater detail 28 Drawing with pastels, you have a greater colour range at your disposal than for anything else, except paint. You will find it most GETTING STARTED advantageous to work on toned or coloured paper, and there are many kinds available, from cheap sugar paper to more expensive stock, such as Canson or Ingres papers. Any art shop carries a variety of pads or sheets and it is worth trying out several different types until you find the one that suits you best. One pastel artist I know of draws straight onto thick board and I have many times worked on ordinary brown or grey cardboard. Do different textural exercises just to get the hang of working with them. Remember, if you are using soft pastels be much gentler in your handling. 1 Put a patch of some 2 Then try making various light tone onto brown marks in a fairly random paper and then smudge it with manner, building up darker your finger until it looks like colours onto the dark brown smoke or a cloud. Work over paper. Don’t smudge this, just the top of this with strokes in note how dark colours still lighter and darker tones to see show up against the dark how they can blend in with the background. soft background. 3 Next, try stroking on the colours in one direction only, starting with a light colour. Don’t smudge this either, but work over it with something darker in a slightly different direc- tion. Add other dark colours to deepen the tone one side of the patch. 21BD1AF1-BA62-4ACF-868F-588A423B525B

4 Look at this highly simplified copy of a 29 Renoir nude, drawn in pastel on a dark PASTELS IN GREATER DETAIL brown paper. First of all, the outline shape was lightly sketched in with a warm pink. Then strokes of a light pink and a light yellow ochre were drawn across the lighter parts of the figure, to build up the rounded shapes of the limbs and torso. Then darker, redder colours were put in around the shadowed sides, increasing the three-dimensional effect. Darker colours were further added for the hair, the dark outlines and deeply shadowed areas. I used purple, blue, brown, carmine and a touch of green. Finally, the dark background was put in with various colours, finished by all the very lightest areas, such as the towel and the flesh highlights in white, sometimes tempered with a little yellow. Note how the pastels tend to follow the contours of the figure, so there is no single way to put on your strokes of colour. 5 Three simple exercises where the aim is to keep everything to a minimum; with pastels this can be very effective. I used a deep blue paper and for the plant drawing used a light green, a dark green, and then put in a background across the top, finishing with a dark brown touch on the stalks and the fence behind. 6 The girl’s head in the second drawing was outlined first in a dark brown. The pale pink followed in gentle strokes over the lightest areas of the face and hand. Next, a richer, warmer reddish tone was used for the shadows on the face and shoulder and, after that, yellow and pink to pick up the highlights. I put a touch of light blue on the back of the hand where the light was reflected. 7 In drawing the final head, I simply scribbled light pink and yellow marks to suggest hair and face, not too precisely. After that, I used a touch of dark pink for shadows on the face and darker ochre for shadows on the hair – note that none of these marks is very heavy. Lastly, I added a bit of red for the mouth, a little black or dark brown for the eyes, nostrils and chin, and a couple of highlights in white on the nose and cheekbones. I also added a light blue reflected light on the dark side of the face. A relatively acceptable head has been produced without too much work. 21BD1AF1-BA62-4ACF-868F-588A423B525B

Watercolour 30 When you come to use watercolour, first familiarize yourself with the quality of the paint and its covering power. Watercolour is a very GETTING STARTED flexible medium and can produce brilliant results in the hands of a practised painter. But even with a beginner, the results can often be quite marvellous because, some of the time, you rely on what are called ‘happy accidents’. That is when you get an interesting result even though you didn’t know how it came about. 1 Take a large soft brush (a size 7 sable would be ideal) and wet it, then take the strongest tone you can on your brush and lay strokes of each colour next to one another so that you get a clear idea of their relative power. Do this exercise on a piece of white watercolour paper for the best results. Thin paper will only cockle and go wavy. 2 Having made a patch for each colour in your paintbox, find out how the intensity can be reduced by adding water to it. Starting with a solid patch (I started with yellow), brush out from left to right, add more and more water until the colour has almost faded to nothing. Try to do it as evenly as you can. You will improve with practice but, as you can see from my examples of red, blue, viridian, brown and purple, some have come out much patchier than others. However, this only shows that a patchy quality is sometimes quite acceptable. 21BD1AF1-BA62-4ACF-868F-588A423B525B

3 Get accustomed to the idea of drawing with the brush. 31 As you can see from the next set of exercises, coloured WATERCOLOUR shapes have been formed by pulling the tip of the brush across the paper with various twists and turns that are sometimes thicker and sometimes thinner. Try the same method with the brush, making short strokes and small blobs. 4 Using two colours, make downward strokes where each stroke floods into the next one, producing an all-over patch of colour. Try it with the strokes going up and down alternately. 5 Drag the loaded brush across the paper horizontally, allowing each stroke to flood into the one above. Do all this with your paper attached to a sloping board. This allows the water to run smoothly down the paper. Whatever you do, try to avoid the mistake of going back over the painted areas because this always produces patchy colour effects. Having done all this, repeat the exercise with a size 2 brush, which has a narrower point. 21BD1AF1-BA62-4ACF-868F-588A423B525B

Watercolour in greater detail (1) A garden scene 32 Here are two fairly straightforward exercises. Don’t hurry, and try to be precise. The garden table picture needs a soft-edged GETTING STARTED approach and the Venetian buildings (over the page) need a more sharp-edged resolution. Both will produce highly effective pictures with a bit of practice. 1 First lay out the scene simply but with a degree of accuracy. Draw with a brush (size 2 sable) using a light greenish-brown or greenish-grey to give a clear, almost diagrammatic outline. Simple outlines are best, leaving large areas to flood with colour. 2 Next put in the basic tones and colours. The light lies beyond the shade of the trees and bushes, so nothing will be strongly lit except where the sun filters through. Spot in some yellow, as shown. The tablecloth may be white in reality, but in the shadow of the trees looks more purple-mauve. Go over the tablecloth, the chairs and parts of the jugs, outlining the shadows. Now use warm red-brown for the ground, the section of wall at the back and some of the foliage. Take it right up to the edge of the 21BD1AF1-BA62-4ACF-868F-588A423B525B

lighter mauve tablecloth and chairs but wait until the former is 33 dry before you lay in this sienna tone. WATERCOLOUR IN GREATER DETAIL (1) The last colour base is the dark olive green of the background vegetation and the tree trunk. This needs to be a tone or two darker than the ruddy tone of the ground. Where you have put patches of brown on the vegetation, just paint straight over it. Again, do this after the red-brown has dried. Flood the green over the vegetation and along the tree trunk, leaving a sliver of the brownish colour to indicate the edge. Outline the chair shapes, including the spaces between back rungs and the legs. With equal care, go around the objects that project beyond the far edge of the table. Notice how the unpainted parts of the objects on the table really stand out, and the table and chairs now look quite light. 3 Over the entire dark-green background the brushwork hints at the ground’s unevenness splash in leaves in a deeper green or a and the dappled light through the leaves. dark brown. Some splashes of blue will also help For the objects on top of the table, leave the to liven the density of the foliage. The chairs roses almost untouched, except for a splash of and table should now be defined more with pink on one bloom. Blue and purple tones for overlays of purple or blue. The tablecloth should the vase will help to give the impression of glass. consist of blue and pink tones, with the edge The bottle and coffee pot should be done in defined in a darker blue. The chairs can have a browns, greens and blues. Don’t be too exact bit of green mixed in with the tones over them; about the shapes. A loose, wobbly edge helps in they need to look slightly darker than the table top. this sort of picture. The big jug in the foreground should be treated the same way, but Splash browns and greens over the ground in don’t totally cover the splashes of yellow that flickering shapes so almost covering the original were put on at the beginning. red-brown with these darker tones. Notice how 21BD1AF1-BA62-4ACF-868F-588A423B525B

Watercolour in greater detail (2) Venetian scene 34 As with the garden scene, this picture is begun by drawing with a brush. Select a size 2 sable with a good point. Use watercolour GETTING STARTED paper, the thicker the better, to avoid the paper buckling. To start, mix up your watercolours in three basic tones. The colour should be watery but reasonably strong in order to get sufficient contrast between the paint and the white paper, some of which will be left showing at the end of your picture. 1 Start with the outline. The colour could be ultramarine but a fairly watery mix. Then define all the blocks of architecture and the line of the base of the buildings where they meet the water. Indicate their reflections in the canal. Keep it all relatively simple, only putting in a few of the most obvious features. You will end up with a drawing as shown, which gives you quite enough information to start on the next stage. 2 Now you can do the sky. Use a size 7 brush with a good point. Turn the outline drawing upside down, resting it on a sloping board or desk. This helps you to flood the watercolour on easily and, after each stroke, the colour runs down to the place where you will make your next one. Start carefully, putting in the sky along the lines of the rooftops, allowing the watery colour to run down towards what will be the top of the paper. As the colour washes down towards the edge of the paper it gathers more of the pigment so that when you have finished, the strongest part of the colour is nearer the edge of the paper. 21BD1AF1-BA62-4ACF-868F-588A423B525B

35 WATERCOLOUR IN GREATER DETAIL (2) Now reverse the process. This time you Some of this colour should also go over the will be doing the water of the canal, so mix up a shadowed faces of the buildings, allowing for a good deep blue with a slightly green tinge to it. toning down of the purple. Then with a warmer Start at the point where the base of the brown tone, you can mark in some of the buildings meet the water; you won’t have much darker windows and roofs and the front façade trouble getting nice smooth horizontal strokes of the buildings. of colour across the paper. As the watercolour floods down to the bottom edge of the picture, 5 Lastly, the domes have to be put in, using be aware that the colour will again be stronger a very light warm grey. That means it will towards the bottom edge. have a little yellow in it. Don’t forget the boat 3 Mix up an ultramarine blue with a bit of hulls. As you can see, the colours and tones are purple in it and paint in the areas of the building up steadily, giving more depth and interest to the details of the buildings. buildings that are in shadow. Leave a few strokes of white paper where anything catches the light. Cover the areas of distant vegetation with a A few fine lines of shadow can be placed green tone. Then with a much deeper version of towards the left edge of the domes. Don’t forget the original colour of the canal, put in the the shadows of the chimney pots cast onto reflection of the buildings over the water area, the rooftops. with a broken edge to simulate the ripples. Make a few tiny strokes outside the edge of the 4 With a good Naples yellow, paint in the mass of reflection to give a flickering impression sunlit side of the buildings that are closest of wavelets on the surface. Now, with an even darker brown, touch in a few special effects like to the water, but leave the church and the the windows in the houses and the shadowed Custom House building (on the left) as the sides of the boats. unpainted white of the paper. 21BD1AF1-BA62-4ACF-868F-588A423B525B

One-point perspective 36 Your skills as an artist should include the technique of constructing a drawing to give the appearance of GETTING STARTED spatial dimension on a two-dimensional plane. Perspective theory attempts to regulate the appearance of the natural world with a constructive formula that makes it easier to draw. Linear perspective was developed in the Renaissance by such great artists as Brunelleschi, Masaccio, Donatello and Uccello. To the human eye, all lines appear to converge on a vanishing point at the horizon, and we see distant objects as much smaller than things that are close to. We know, for example, that a row of telegraph poles stretching away from us along a road are all the same height, yet, from our point of view, those closest to us appear larger than those further away. If our view is distant enough, the poles eventually seem to disappear altogether on the horizon. Here, and overleaf, are two of the basic systems of perspective for you to look at. One-point perspective shows the apparent objects (blocks on the ground or in the air, and cylinders placed vertically or lying on the ground) with all the vertical poles diminishing in size as they proceed along the limiting lines of perspective towards a central vanishing point lying in the centre of the horizon. This creates an illusion, on the flat surface of a picture, of objects shrinking uniformly in scale as they recede in space and helps to convince us that we are looking at a genuine three-dimensional situation. Of course, these objects would have to be expertly drawn or painted to appear as convincing of their reality as a photograph. 21BD1AF1-BA62-4ACF-868F-588A423B525B

21BD1AF1-BA62-4ACF-868F-588A423B525B ONE-POINT PERSPECTIVE 37

Two-point perspective 38 The second diagram shows two-point perspective to be more complex, because now we have a vanishing point at each end of the GETTING STARTED horizon line, with the pair as far apart as our paper will allow. This produces a good impression of three-dimensional objects in space, and I have placed three blocks or buildings on the ground (the area below the horizon line). They appear to occupy space exactly as we would see a similar series of buildings in real life. The blue construction lines indicate the areas of the blocks that would be hidden if they were truly solid. Note how that includes all the overlapping areas. 21BD1AF1-BA62-4ACF-868F-588A423B525B

This system is more complicated to construct 39 than the first diagram, but also more convincing in its illusion of depth and solidity. When you TWO-POINT PERSPECTIVE come to draw buildings, these technical devices will be helpful. There are other even more complex diagrams for depicting three- dimensional objects but these two are sufficient for most ordinary drawing purposes. 21BD1AF1-BA62-4ACF-868F-588A423B525B

Aerial perspective 40 This is the name given to perspective as seen through tone and colour. The principle is that if an object is closer to you it will GETTING STARTED appear more distinct, more textured and with more intense colour than if separated by distance. Technically, the volume of air, with its accompanying moisture, between you and the object of perception creates a mist of refracted light, and produces the effect that you notice when looking at distant mountains: they always appear more blue than elements of the landscape closer to you. Not only that, their texture is smoothed out and the edges of objects seem less distinct. So when you produce a landscape, like the two examples here, you can give a greater effect of distance by varying the intensity of the colour and the clarity of the outline. In the first example, the distant mountains are drawn in blue without very much detail on the surface of the rock. As the eye travels towards the foreground, it notices more intense and warmer colour and more distinct detail, as in the fence post and the close-up grass and bushes. 21BD1AF1-BA62-4ACF-868F-588A423B525B

In the second example, a similar effect is 41 produced and this time it is much clearer that the colours of the landscape and building close AERIAL PERSPECTIVE to the observer are not only more distinct and detailed in texture, but their colours are generally much warmer in tone, using yellows and reds to give a more immediate effect to their position in space. Blue shades, which are cool, tend to recede and red shades, which are warm, tend to advance – or, at least, give the impression of doing so. You can observe this effect for yourself when looking at a large landscape, especially on a damp day. So when you think of perspective, don’t forget that colour usage will also enhance the effects of distance and proximity in your picture. Include lots of detail and warmer colours in the foreground, and less detail and cooler colours for the middle and background. Put in the farthest distance features only in blues and greys. MASTERSTROKES The effect of the source of light on the appearance of distance is also key. If your source of light is behind your main features it has the effect of showing them in silhouette, which tends to make them look closer than they are. So if you wish to retain the effect of distance, make sure that the shadowed parts of your objects are shown in as much tonal detail as possible, to ensure that they don’t become a silhouette. 21BD1AF1-BA62-4ACF-868F-588A423B525B

Lighting 42 The artist usually encounters a straightforward situation of light illuminating the drawing subject from one main source. With GETTING STARTED artificial light, it may be more complicated, but for most purposes you are dependent upon a single, directional light source, which helps – as perspective helps – to produce a convincing illusion of the solidity of objects. This image shows a central light surrounded by spheres or globes and how this illuminates one side of each sphere, causing a shadow on the opposite side. The sphere placed on the ground will also cast a shadow, stretching away from the light source. Notice that when the sphere is lit directly from the front or behind, it tends to lose a good deal of its three-dimensional qualities in the stark contrast between the surface that is lit and the other that is all in darkness. The maximum three-dimensional effect is obtained by lighting an object from one side or the other at ninety degrees to the observer’s line of vision. The second image shows how the appearance of different objects is influenced by the direction of the light. Coming from the top left, the first schematic head is lit on the top, down one side of the face, one side of the nose, the upper edge of the upper lip, the lower lip and the top of the chin. The eyes are both in shadow, the right one more so, as are the right side of the nose, underneath the nose, the upper lip and under the chin and down the right side of the head and neck. 21BD1AF1-BA62-4ACF-868F-588A423B525B

The second head is far less simple than the first, 43 with rugged features, including ears. A strong light shines down from the same angle and once LIGHTING again hits the top and left side of the head and all the features. Even the eyelid catches some of it and, where the bone structure juts out most prominently, you get highlights on the forehead, cheekbone, nose, lower lip and chin. However, added subtlety is obtained from reflected light, which often bounces back from a pale surface (like a white wall), to ‘fill out’ the shadowy side of the head. Reflected light will be colder (blue here) and much smaller in area than the main light falling on the left. Again, it tends to catch the bony edges of the head. This can give even more conviction to your drawing, so remember to look for it when you are drawing from life; and if you draw from memory, don’t forget it may help give greater dimension to your picture. Looking at the tree drawing, note how the lighter parts occur at the top and the left side, but are broken up slightly by shadows, where the leaves overlie each other in large clumps. All down the right side and under the branches is in shadow, except where the side of the trunk catches the light. The tree will also cast a large shadow to the right. 21BD1AF1-BA62-4ACF-868F-588A423B525B

Still-life groups (1) 44 When drawing several objects together, you must make sure the same methods apply across the picture or else the final drawing GETTING STARTED will not hang together as a unit. Here we have three groups in different mediums, which will give you some idea of how to go about your task. The first subject – drawn in coloured pencil – is The first stage is to draw out the image in a wooden bowl with three pears in it, which is lit one colour. I have chosen a yellow ochre which slightly from behind and from the left. To keep is not too strong for the yellow pears or the well- it simple, I have not included any cast shadow, lit wooden bowl. Once you have got the shape which would be to the right of the bowl, nor any of the bowl and the outline of the pears, put in background at all. the basic shadow, also in the ochre. 21BD1AF1-BA62-4ACF-868F-588A423B525B

45 When that is complete, put in yellow over the STILL-LIFE GROUPS (1) pears except for the highlights. Then add a warm reddish brown for the deeper tones and colour, followed by green, particularly for the fruit. The shadows on the bowl will also need a touch of green. The method of shading should be with short strokes in many directions. The last colours you will use are blue for the deeper shadows, particularly on the bowl, and black to define some of the edges and where the shadow is really deep. 21BD1AF1-BA62-4ACF-868F-588A423B525B

Still-life groups (2) 46 The next picture – in coloured pastels – is also of a bowl of fruit, apples and bananas in a large, painted earthenware bowl. So you GETTING STARTED will need a range of pastels and a good medium-toned brown or grey paper. Sugar paper or Ingres paper is best for this. The first stage requires a fairly loose brown line drawing on the grey-brown paper and then filling in some of the more obvious shadow areas, including, this time, the cast shadow on the table. Keep the strokes loose and light in touch. 21BD1AF1-BA62-4ACF-868F-588A423B525B

47STILL-LIFE GROUPS (2) You can now begin on the other colours. I put in the blue edge to the bowl and then the basic yellow of the bananas and the yellow and green of the apples. Next, I drew the pattern on the plate and also the very light areas on it. I then deepened the shadows on the bananas and apples with blue and green. The red strokes were added to the apples and touches of highlights. Next, using purple, I put in all the darker shadows in the bowl around the fruit, and also the cast shadow. Lastly, I put in a light green for the tablecloth in the background, with some darker green over the cast shadow. It was much quicker to do than the coloured pencil drawing and quite strong and effective. 21BD1AF1-BA62-4ACF-868F-588A423B525B

Still-life groups (3) 48 The last picture is of a jug and a cup and saucer, drawn in watercolour. For this you will need two brushes (sable if possible), GETTING STARTED one large and one smaller. But make sure that they both will come to a point when wet. Then you will need watercolour paper or board, the thicker the better, but try any weight. Have two pots for water, one to wash the brush and one to use as fresh liquid for a new colour. Begin by drawing the outline with a size 2 sable brush, using a light grey-blue. Then, with a larger sable brush (size 8), wash in the main areas of shadow, which is quite light, washing it out at the edges with added water to create the effect of light around curving surfaces. I have assumed the light is coming from the right-hand upper side. MASTERSTROKES A good way of getting your colours to flow easily in watercolour is to wet the whole area of the paper before you start. This allows you to flood on colours quite easily without leaving any edges or stains in the middle of your wash. Be sure to let it dry fully before you start putting in the more detailed colours. 21BD1AF1-BA62-4ACF-868F-588A423B525B

Having established the forms fairly clearly, put of white left at edges where the light would creep 49 in the blue pattern on the jug quite loosely and around the shadows. Then add a light green for then the red roses and green leaves on the cup the tablecloth, floated on around the lower part and saucer. Wait until everything is dry before of the jug and the whole of the cup and saucer, you add a bit more brown to the shadows on the being careful again not to go past the edge of the objects, to prevent it all from looking too cold. cup. This must be done when the previous The next step is to put in a brownish tone across colours are dry. However, while this area is still a the background behind the top part of the jug. little wet you can put in the dark green cast It is important when you do this that the outline shadows to the left of the objects. These should of the jug is very carefully defined with a touch be slightly blended at their outer edges. STILL-LIFE GROUPS (3) Again, this is a fairly fast way of drawing in up. Keep practising and soon your brush colour, as long as you allow for the drying time. handling will become more sure and your You may find at first you have not enough picture more convincing. Watercolour drawing control over your brush technique to produce is not too difficult but does require time and the sort of effect you would like, but don’t give repeated practice. 21BD1AF1-BA62-4ACF-868F-588A423B525B

Landscape 50 A landscape frame comes in very handy. Not the sort that finished artworks are placed in, but a piece of card with a window cut out GETTING STARTED of it, which corresponds to the shape of the picture you wish to produce. Hold up the frame in front of the landscape you are about to draw, in order to decide which part of the view you really want to work on. You always need some way of limiting the parameters, so that the final picture doesn’t become too broad for your drawing base. In the large picture below, there are three outlines superimposed on the general landscape, and you might decide to use one, two or three in your final composition. Each has possibilities but you can choose for yourself the one that is most satisfying to your aesthetic sense. 3 1 2 2 21BD1AF1-BA62-4ACF-868F-588A423B525B